Forum for Science, Industry and Business

Open Systems – Mutual Understanding Without Limits

21.12.2004

The universal open system technology has been developed by Russian researchers with support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE). The new technology will help to finally achieve mutual understanding between computers even if one of them thinks and speaks the Unix language and the other - the language of Windows.

Computers connected to a single network will soon be able to communicate easily with each other thanks to the development by Russian researchers – specialists of the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Russian Academy of Sciences, which was performed jointly with specialists of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Standards (State Standards of Russia) and Moscow Institute of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Automation. The “mutual incomprehension” problems, which make people frantic when texts and pictures from one computer “fail to open” or “fail to be read” on another computer with different software will eventually remain in the past. The universal open system technology developed by the researchers will allow to solve the problem.

According to Professor Olenikov’s figurative explanation, the new technology is similar to an electric adapter for European/Russian sockets and plugs. Only in this case, if we continue the analogy, the adapter is generally universal, allowing for utilization of devices with any standards – European, Japanese and Russian.

Generally speaking, it is obvious that the information infrastructure of any level should be based on open system standards and technologies. It makes no sense to connect computers in a network if it is impossible to use from one computer the data stored on the other computer – certainly, for the exception of confidential information, but the openness of systems does not apply to passwords.

The technology developed by the Moscow researchers is actually a universal translator interface. Using different original software and hardware, the technology creates as though a buffer – the agreed set of standards “comprehensible” to all participants of the system. That makes the set of computers connected into a network to be the open information system.

“The open system technology has been under development in the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics (Russian Academy of Sciences) for about ten years already, says Professor Alexander Oleinikov, project manager, principal research officer of the Institute. We have now built such a system for the metallurgical integrated works. By the way, the world practice knows examples of constructing similar systems for individual enterprises – for banks and oil-refining companies. However, there are neither systems for metallurgists, nor – universal technologies in particular, which would allow (knowing certain techniques) to create an open system for any enterprises regardless of their line of business. It is universality that primarily differentiates our development. Hopefully, this distinction will allow us to take out a patent for it.”

“No wonder that our system roused interest of the Magnitogorsk metallurgical integrated works. This is an enormous enterprise that is among 20 largest steel-casting companies of the world, continues A.Ya. Oleinikov. In fact, this is a big town with the “population” of many thousands and a vast territory. It has multitude of computers in all fields of the enterprise activity - manufacturing, administration, marketing, etc. Our technology will allow to make their interfaces, protocols and data formats compatible with each other.”

Probably the Magnitogorsk metallurgical integrated works’ information system will become open in a year.

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